{Review} Bible Dominos

Bible Dominoes is a set of sturdy and colorful dominoes designed for little hands. Each domino has a rainbow design on the back and the front has numbers and animals and people from the Bible. It's a perfect way to introduce colors, matching, numbers, and so much more to young learners. The age on the box says 3+, but I was able to use them with an almost three year old.

We didn't play them as a traditional game, but I used them in other ways. We went over colors and the animals on the cards. We also talked about the colors. I also just let him play with them as he wanted to.

"Ta dah!"

And my favorite part was this...

Disclosure (in accordance with the FTC’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising”): Opinions are 100% my own and NOT influenced by monetary compensation. I did receive a sample of the product in exchange for this review and post.

{TOS Crew Review} Northstar Games: Say Anything

We love North Star Games around here. They are an awesome game company that has come up with some very unique ideas for games. We were recently given a copy of their "Say Anything Family" game to try out. We love playing games around here and soon had a family game night to try it out.

Say Anything Family is geared to ages 8 and up and for 3-6 families. Our youngest is 7-1/2 and while he needed help writing, he did very well with the game. I love that as it allows us to play together as a family.

The details:

• The game comes with:
• 60 question cards (360 topics!)
• 6 dry erase pens (nice ones too!)
• 6 dry erase boards
• 1 SELECT-O-MATIC 6000 (love the name of this!!!)
• 12 player tokens in six colors
• 1 dry erase score board
• Rule booklet
• Each player selects a color and one person is designated the "questioner" first.
• The questioner asks the question. 
• Other the other players than must write down what they think the questioner would answer for that question.
• They lay their answers out in the playing area. 

The question was "most annoying cartoon character" (or something similar)

• If anyone has a same or similar answer, the last person to lay down must choose a different ones.
• The questioner than chooses their favorite answer and uses the SELCT-O-MATIC 6000 to mark the color choice of their answer.
• The other players than place their tokens on what they think the questioner will choose. Each player has two tokens and can place them as they desire.

Apparently "licking monkeys" was not the crowd favorite.

• The questioner than reveals their choice and points are awarded to the other players based on what was chosen, who wrote it, and who had tokens on the answer. Seriously, I had to have my kids explain the point system to me. It's not confusing. It just involves numbers and I don't like numbers at all. 

The game retails for $19.99 at major retailers such as Amazon.com and Target.

I asked my kids what they thought of the game. It was an overwhelming positive response. My middle son gave it "four thumbs up!" because, as he said, he put his toes in too! It really is a fun game and the answer options are endless as they are open ended. This is definitely a game that will be staying in our game closet and we'll use for many years to come.

Be sure to head over to the TOS Homeschool Crew blog to see what my fellow Crew mates had to say about the game.

Want to try to win your own copy? One of my fellow Crew members accidentally had two copies sent to her for the review so she's being allowed to give away the extra one! Head over to The Homeschool Desk to enter! You have until November 1st to enter.



Disclaimer: I was not paid for this review.  All opinions shared are my own. TOS Crew Members are given the product free of charge in exchange for our unbiased opinion of the product.

{TOS Crew Review} R&R Games: Pig Pile

  

We love to play games in our family. I especially love finding games that we can all play together and have fun at the same time. That's not as easy as it sounds given the age range of the five of us. I was pleasantly surprised to try out a game from R&R Games called Pig Pile ($15.95).

The game comes with 80 cards, 40 pink pigs, and illustrated instructions. It's designed for ages 7 and up and for 3-6 players.

Shortly after it arrived I realized we'd have some downtime between activities while we were in town. I quickly packed it up and took it along. I figured it would be the perfect time to try it out.

We definitely found there was a learning curve and I would probably tweak things a bit for future play to shorten the game a tad. The rounds you play can be quick. The goal is to get rid of all your cards by matching the face value or exceeding it. There are also a number of "specialty" cards in the deck that allow you to skip players, "wash" the deck (i.e. remove the discard pile and start over), wild cards, and more. You win the pigs by winning rounds. The one with the most pigs at the end wins. 

Having said that though, this is a fun game and one we all enjoyed. We did find that the more people playing, the more fun you have. While it's easy enough to play with three players, having four or more makes the play faster paced.

Right now R&R Games is allowing me to share a fantastic coupon code with my readers. If you use CREW20 when you make a purchase, you will receive 20% off your purchase on their website and it is good until December 31, 2011. Thinking about Christmas yet? R&R Games has a lot of great games to chose from. 

Be sure to head over to the TOS Homeschool Crew Blog to check out more reviews of games from R&R Games. Crew members were given either Pig Pile or a game called Flea Circus. 

 

Disclaimer: I was not paid for this review.  All opinions shared are my own. TOS Crew Members are given the product free of charge in exchange for our unbiased opinion of the product.

Who Wants To Play a Game?

That refrain is heard around my home many times a day. My middle son in particular loves to play board games. I am constantly on the look out for games to add to our ever growing collection. I want games that are fun, easy to play with a large age range (our youngest is not quite 7 and our oldest is 14 plus hubby & I). Quick play is an added bonus. Added educational elements are a huge plus. And unique. I really like unique games. The biggest requirement is that it needs to be fun!

There are very few games that meet these requirements. However, we recently had a game arrive in our home that is fantastic to play. It's called Wits & Wagers Family ($19.99) put out by North Star Games.

Play is super easy. It's designed for up to five people. We've played it with all of us plus just the boys and I. The game come with five small wipe off boards and markers. There are two colored "meeples" (one large and one small) for each person. There is also a score card (the one with all the circles pictured above) and tons of fun trivia questions.

Here's how to play...each person takes their wipe off board. A trivia question is asked. The answer will be a number. For example..."How many stars are in the Milky Way?" Each player writes down their answer. They are they flipped over and placed in order on the table. The players then place their meeples on what they think is the best answer to the question - not necessarily their own answer either. Points are awarded for writing the correct answer and the placing of the meeples.

What I love: It's fast paced. A game takes about 20 minutes or less - depending on the questions asked and the answers given. All of us can play it together! While J6 doesn't always write his numbers well (he gets to practice now!) and he may not know the answer, he is still able to enjoy the game. He doesn't need help to play which is an added bonus. While the manufacturer recommends this for ages 10+, we found it very easy for J6 and N9 to play easily and well. I also really liked that hubby & I also had fun playing. That's hard to find in a child-friendly game at times.

Wits & Wagers Family can be purchased at Target, Amazon, Barnes & Noble or your local toy and game retailer.

Be sure to head over to the TOS Homeschool Crew blog to see what other Crew members had to say about Wits & Wagers Family.



Disclaimer: I was not paid for this review. All opinions shared are my own. TOS Crew Members are given the product free of charge in exchange for our unbiased opinion of the product.

Review: The Travels of Wiglington & Wenks

The Travels of Wiglington & Wenks is a virtual world designed for kids ages 7-14. As a member of the TOS Homeschool Crew I was recently given the opportunity to try this out along with the boys. I first went and set up a free account. It was then upgraded to a subscription account and we were now "Elite Quest Travelers." This gave us access to some things the free account does not have. Click here for more information on the different levels of paid subscriptions.

What exactly is Wiglinton & Wenks? It is a virtual computer world that kids can explore. Their goal is to find famous historical people who have suddenly forgotten who they really are. As kids explore the virtual world, they look for these people along the way and try to help them out. There are also various games to play as well. There are two videos on the main page of their website that explains it a bit more.

My first mistake was not looking closely at what I was doing while setting up my account. I had planned for the boys to try out the account I was setting up since it would be upgraded to a paid version.  However, I inadvertently set up a "girl" as our avatar instead of a "boy!" Yikes! My 13 year old absolutely refused to use this avatar at all as he was not going to a girl character! I really can't blame him. I looked and looked and looked and could find no way to change this once the account was set up. I didn't want to delete the account and have to restart it so I left it alone and I played around with it for a bit myself. I let N9 & B13 set up free accounts with their own information instead. I actually found it very frustrating that this couldn't be changed anywhere once an account was set.

I also did not like the chat feature at all. I simply do not want my kids chatting online ever. I know. I'm strict. However, their safety is my responsibility. No matter how tight a game says their security is and how they make sure it's only kids on there, there really is just no way to know. Sadly, the makers of W&W are currently upgrading their safety features - a good thing. However, some of the chat safety features are not working at the moment which is a bit scary to me.

I am not a huge "online" world kind of mom anyway. My kids bug me enough as it is to play on the computer. It's one reason I've refused to buy them Webkinz thus far. While I thought the educational elements of Wiglington and Wenks would outweigh the fact that they were online playing, I really don't think it does. My boys spent most of their time just playing games.

Overall this wasn't a good fit for our family. I know the boys enjoyed it but it seemed like another time waster to me. However, if you really love computer games, it might work better for you - the graphics are excellent. I do know that the makers are currently beefing up their security features as well.

Be sure to head over to the TOS Homeschool Crew blog to see what other Crew members had to say about it.

*Disclaimer: I was not paid for this review. All opinions shared are my own. TOS Crew Members are given the product free of charge in exchange for our unbiased opinion of the product.

Review: Maverick Books

Maverick Books are the publishers of Hank the Cowdog. We love Hank around these parts. Oops, sorry, I started slipping in to "Hank-talk" there for a minute. My friend Deb shared with us about these books a few years ago. I know my oldest son went through a "Hank" phase & read quite a few of the books. We were beyond thrilled to find out we were going to be able to do a review as part of the TOS Crew for this company. Anticipation was very high while we waited to see what was going to show up in our package. Seriously, it's like Christmas around here with all the neat things arriving!

So what is exactly Hank the Cowdog? Hank is the head of ranch security that is constantly running into mishaps & mysteries. Maverick Books has a neat link on their site where you can meet all the characters that populate the books. Click HERE to go explore.

Inside our package were three items. The first was book #8 (image above) in the series. This is one that B & N had not read yet. B devoured it in about an hour & deemed it "good." He is a prolific reader like his mama but short on words, what can I say. I'm encouraging N to try it out. He's started it but hasn't finished it yet. He likes it as well so far.

The second item was a game called "Tornado ($12.99)." Have you ever played "Trouble" with your kids? It's the same concept. Each player has three game pieces. They have a "Hank," "Drover," & "Junior" pieces. Each piece has the same color holder on it. For instance, if you chose red, you would have a red Hank, a red Drover, and a red Junior. This had me a bit confused at first. I pretty much told the boys to read the directions & teach me how to play. And they did. Bless their hearts. You start with three pieces each & your goal is to get them to your home spaces. Only one player can occupy one space so if you land on another player, they are sent all the way home. There are "tornado" spaces on the board as well. If you land here, you spin again. Odd numbers send you back that number of spaces & even send you ahead. You can only move your pieces out after rolling certain numbers.

The boys are pretty much playing this every chance they get. It's a fun game - especially when you send someone all the way home just mere spaces away from winning. I loved the fact that this is a small portable game. The game is only 4x8 inches when folded but opens to 8.5x8.5 inches. It folds for easy traveling and storage. The pieces are stored inside the game when it's folded - including the spinner. I really wish this had arrived before we went to camp. It would have been the perfect game to take along with us.

The game also comes with a bonus cassette. I passed this along to my sister, however. I no longer own anything that will play a cassette and that just makes me feel old. Moving on....

The last item for our review was a CD called Tales & Tunes from Hank the Cowdog ($3). I had this blaring through the house the other day to the delight of my boys. They enjoy listening to the author, John Erickson, give all the characters a unique voice as he reads the stories. There are excerpts from ten books plus nine original songs. The songs are a hoot. This will be going in our truck so we can listen to it while running errands.

We really enjoy Hank here & found all of these products really fun. We are a game loving family so Tornado was an excellent fit for us.

If you'd like to read more reviews, please check out the TOS Homeschool Crew blog.

Disclaimer: Some readers may find the use of the words "dummy, moron, etc" that are used in the book irritating or offensive. This is used as a learning tool in our house but I did want to point out that these words and other similar ones are used in case that is an issue for you.

Fun School and Random Photos

I promised the boys some "fun school" today if they did their basics first and without complaint. Here is a look at our table. I took this shot because J was telling me he did not have enough space to be able to color. ::grin:: We're a little short on space around here.



Miss H joined us for quite a bit of time while we were finishing up some things. Have I mentioned her giggle? It's awesome.

B is working on his new science book. We opted to go with Christian Kids Explore Chemistry this year. We've been using Jeannie Fulbright's Exploring Science series since the beginning but I gave him the option of chemistry or zoology 3 & he chose chemistry. Since Jeannie hasn't written one yet, we're trying this. We've just finished the first chapter but I feel it's a good fit for us. Enough hands-on stuff (and easy hands-on stuff!) along with enough reading to make a good mix.

B was comparing the ingredients (chemicals) in three different products - cereal, cleaning solution, & shampoo.

J decided to join us for most of the day today. This year each boy was given a box with markers, colored pencils or crayons, glue stick, scissors, and pencils. It's saved us oodles of time looking for these items in are large school drawer. I wish I had thought of it sooner.

N is working on copying his AWANA verses. He doesn't really care to do this but I find it helps him learn his verses better to write them out once in a while during the course of the week.

Later on in the afternoon we pulled out the chess set & N & I played. He's a pretty good player for only being 7 years old. He does well.

After we were done with chess, we pulled out this Spelling Bee Bingo game. This was given to N earlier this summer by a family friend. It's a fun game & the best part is that J can play with us since he knows his letters. There are two versions of the game. We played the easier version.

In the middle of the table is a large plastic bee tray. On it are letter tiles turned upside down. Each player is given a card - N is holding his up - with two words on it. You start with the youngest player who picks a tile at random & turns it over for all to see. If you have that letter, you put a yellow marker on it. Play continues with each person taking a turn picking tiles. The first person to cover all their letters shouts out "buzz" and wins. We had so much fun we played the game three times. The harder version includes spelling words but we haven't tried that yet.

The boys ended the day playing Hyper Dash. I have to say this is the best $20 I have ever spent at Wal-Mart. ::grin:: I bought it last week when we had everyone come over to help work on the shed. I thought a fun game for the kids to play would be welcomed in the afternoon. If you click on the link above, it explains in detail how the game works. I have to say that I even enjoy playing this. It has four different types games you can play. You can pick the level and the number of players. There is even a "team dash" game so you can play it like a relay race. My favorite one is "micro dash" where you set it up on a table & play it like a memory game. So fun and it could be so addicting!

Overall it was a great "Fun School" day.